Ebooks are a simple way for internet entrepreneurs to monetize their knowledge and experiences by turning them into digital products that can be purchased and downloaded directly from their websites.
If you’ve been in charge of your business for any number of days, you’ve probably picked up a few useful tips along the way. Your clients might even be willing to pay for those tips, depending on how useful they are.
If you’re new to selling digital products, you might be confused about how to go about selling ebooks. In this post, we’ll show you how to make an ebook, provide you with helpful resources to make the process easier, and get you started on your journey to selling your first online book product in your online store.
How to Choose a Topic for Your Ebook
The first step in making a successful ebook is choosing a topic for your book.
Ebooks, in general, show the reader how to do something. Unless you’re a novelist or a poet, you’ll want to think about how you can use your skills and personal experiences to deliver actionable value to your readers, and how that value might relate to your store’s primary product offerings.
If you sell paper crafts, for instance, a related ebook to sell online may be “Affordable DIY home decor with papercrafts.”
To give a human factor to the actionable advice you’re offering in your ebook, provide personal examples from your own life or initiatives. Using some paper crafts as an example, you may demonstrate some of the ways you’ve utilized paper to adorn your home. This gives your ebook more context and allows you to include fascinating graphics to help highlight your content.
Before you start writing, do some research to see what kinds of ebooks your competitors are selling, if any. To be truly successful, your ebook must provide something that your clients don’t already have from the competitors. Do some research on the topics you want to write about in your ebook, then think about how you can set it apart with new content or a distinct approach.
Look through Amazon’s best-selling books to get a sense of what readers want, and you’ll be able to start selling ebooks that are actually read.
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How to Create a Successful Ebook
Use these tips to guide you through the writing process and develop an ebook that sells once you’ve identified the appropriate topic for your ebook.
Focus on a how-to
People frequently purchase ebooks in order to learn something new. Therefore, taking a step-by-step approach to your topic is an excellent way to organize your ebook. Walk the reader through the steps, give many examples, and mix in your own personal experiences whenever it feels right. If you set out each stage of the process in detail, your ebook’s content will not only be useful to your readers, but it will also write itself.
Think of a compelling title
Because the title is so vital in determining whether or not a buyer will be interested in purchasing your ebook, take the time to write one that is both intriguing and engaging to your target audience. To make your ebook feel like a must-have, use ideas like the curiosity gap, a pain point, or the desired outcome.
For example, if you’re creating an ebook about preserving fruits and vegetables, “How to Save $500 A Year on Groceries” would be a far more enticing title than “The Guide to Canning” because it promises a more desirable result.
As a writer, I’ve discovered that titles that begin with “How to” are the most popular to readers.
There are a few other things you can do to make your ebook title more appealing:
- “You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters” is a provocative title.
- “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” is a suspenseful story about a man who mistook his wife for a hat.
- “Fitter, Happier, Healthier: The Ultimate 4 Week Body Transformation Plan,” for example.
Make use of simple words
Unless you’re writing a book about nuclear physics, your writing should be simple to comprehend.
Have you ever found yourself re-reading the same line over and over because you can’t seem to understand what it’s saying? That sentence was probably either too long, too wordy, or even both.
One general law of educational writing is that the more clearly you can express your views, the better. Customers are unlikely to buy your ebook to find out how many big words you know unless you’re a poet or successful author (which is wonderful). They’re probably buying because of the favorable outcome promised in your headline. And they’ll want to know what they’re doing and how to get there as quickly as possible. (Take, for example, the use of “on the condition that” rather than “if”).
Avoid using jargon, acronyms, or any trade jargon that may be unknown to your audience to ensure that your writing is understandable. Check out the Hemingway App if you’re still not sure if your writing is basic enough
www.fastcompany.com
This handy tool will automatically indicate words that are too big, phrases that are too long, passive voice, and unnecessary adverbs when you put your writing through a checker.
Make the most of your introduction pages
Most ebooks provide a free online preview of the first 10-20 pages. This gives potential consumers a taste of the ebook’s content and allows them to decide if it’s something they’d like to learn more about.
Because the preview might influence whether or not a customer buys your ebook, it’s critical to make good use of these pages. Lay down exactly what you’re going to discuss in the next pages and why readers should care to learn more in the first 10-20 pages. Hook your readers early on with a compelling value proposition, and selling your first ebook should be a breeze.
Take it slow
When you’re creating your first ebook, it’s normal to want to rush to the finish line. However, don’t speed through the writing process. Instead, make an attainable daily/weekly target for the number of pages or chapters you’ll write, and then stick to it. You can also reduce distractions by using a tool like the FocusBoosterApp or the Pomodoro Technique while writing.
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If you’re having trouble writing, don’t let it get the best of you. To keep the process flowing, move on to the next chapter and return to that point when some time has passed.
If you’re not sure how to present your ideas, Airstory can help you break them down into digital sticky notes that you can visually sort and arrange until you’re happy with the structure and ready to dive in.
How to Format Your Ebook
The formatting comes next. There are a few design factors to keep in mind while creating ebooks to make your content more reader-friendly.
Choose an ideal ebook file format
Different file formats are supported by different e-readers. If you wish to sell ebooks successfully, ensure the final file format is compatible with your clients. To be secure, learn the differences between ebook file formats and make your ebook available in multiple forms so that your clients may select a version that works for them.
By far the most used file type for ebooks is PDF. PDFs are compatible with a wide range of operating systems and allow users to quickly access, download, and print their ebooks from a variety of devices. PDFs are also ideal for ebook writers because they don’t require any specific software to create. You’ll only need a word processor that allows you to save PDFs to get started.
Select a font that’s simple to read
Your ebook isn’t just simpler to read because of the language you use. In order to create an ebook that is easy to understand, your font choice is also important. According to AWAI, san serif fonts (basic fonts without “feet” or flourishes) are the best for reading online, with Arial, Courier, and Verdana among the most legible. Surprisingly, while Times New Roman was once the standard font for word processors, it is now the font of choice for internet readers. A font size of 12 or bigger is also recommended by AWAI.
You could be tempted to show off your originality by using non-standard fonts in your ebook, but this is more likely to result in a confusing reading experience than a valuable difference. Therefore, it’s recommended to stay with considered trying fonts that are suited for reading.
A poor font selection might spoil a reader’s experience.
Finally, your ebook should be responsive to fit the screen size of your reader. This means that your reader will always have the best reading experience possible, regardless of the screen size on which your ebook is being read.
Keep your ebook’s color scheme consistent
You’ll want to make sure your color scheme is consistent throughout your ebook, whatever it is. Choose a scheme of 2-3 colors that go well with your company’s branding and use them in your ebook’s cover, font colors, headers and footers, and any graphics. If you need some assistance choosing a color palette, sites like paletton.com can help you identify complementary colors.
Make your ebook scan-friendly
According to eye-tracking studies, people who read on a computer or mobile device scan the text in an F-shaped pattern.
You can handle this behavior by moving your text and using short, mouth blocks of information, such as bullet-point lists and brief sentences, in your ebook. Long paragraphs that require more than a quick scan to read and understand should be avoided wherever possible.
Include images in your ebook
When something looks excellent, it’s always easier to sell it. So, with intriguing visuals and illustrations, try your best to give value to your digital product.
If you already have high-quality photos, use them to demonstrate steps in a process or the end result in your ebook. If you don’t have any, look for high-quality stock photos to convey your ideas. Free stock images can be found on websites such as Death to Stock Photo, Unsplash, and Gratisography.
Create a stunning cover for your ebook
A great cover design is vital because it is the first thing your audience will notice. Your ebook cover design serves as both a sales tool and a symbol of your business. Using pre-made templates and commodity design elements, free tools like Canva make it simple to create beautiful ebook covers.
www.canva.com
Before settling on a final version, invite a friend or colleague to take a brief glance at your cover for a fresh perspective. Fresh eyes can discover errors you may have missed, and they may even provide advice on how to improve your decent cover design.
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Proofreading
You’ll need to have someone review your ebook for spelling and grammar errors before you can start selling it. Dropping your writing into a free tool like Grammarly is fantastic for a first pass and will usually identify most big errors, but nothing beats having a pair of human eyes look over your work (at least for the time being). Because the last thing you want is your debut ebook to be cluttered with missing commas and punctuation.
How to Sell an Ebook Online
Ebooks can be sold on a variety of websites, such as Amazon, iBooks, your own online store, Google Play, Fiverr, and so on.
If you want to make a living selling ebook online, you should list your books as widely as possible. We’ll look at one typical way to sell your ebooks in this article: Amazon Kindle.
Sell ebooks on Amazon Kindle
Earning a living from your Amazon ebook may take some time if you’re a first-time author. The average self-published author only makes roughly $1,000 per year selling on Amazon’s platform due to the enormous variety of possibilities on the Kindle marketplace. However, because of its large audience, Amazon can still be a good place to promote your business.
Consider giving out your first ebook for free for a limited time if you want to sell ebooks to attract customers to your other products and services. This can help you attract early attention from readers who might otherwise be unwilling to purchase a book by an unknown author, and it will help you get those crucial first reviews. You can start getting paid for customer downloads once your ebook has gained some traction.
Selling ebooks on Amazon is a complicated process, so do your research before publishing your first one.
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How to Get Your Ebook Noticed
When you’re ready to start selling your ebook, you’ll need some brilliant marketing strategies. Here are a few ideas for getting your first ebook noticed:
Make use of social media. To let your followers know that your new ebook is available for purchase, schedule many updates across your social media networks. Also, if you’re giving it away for free for a limited period, don’t forget to mention it!
Do guest post. Look for any relevant, high-traffic blogs where you can guest post about topics related to your new ebook. You can link to your book in your bio even if you’re not marketing it in the post.
Organize a podcast tour. See if you can get on a few podcasts as a guest to offer a lesson or two from your new ebook (without giving too much away, of course). This will help to spark the curiosity of new audiences while also providing another opportunity to share the link in your bio.
Collaborate with influencers. If you know any bloggers or influencers in a niche that is related to the subject matter of your ebook, see if you can collaborate to give away a few free copies.
Selling ebooks is similar to selling anything else: it’s all about figuring out how to get your product in front of the right people at the right time. And after you’ve located them, don’t stop. Don’t let your marketing strategy fade out after the first week; instead, develop a plan that will keep sales coming in month after month through fresh channels and opportunities.
Teach What You Know When Selling Ebooks
Writing ebooks is a way to turn your story into a product you can sell, whether it’s teaching others about your industry and products or sharing your experiences as an entrepreneur.
Does it require time and preparation? Yes, of course. What successful e-commerce business doesn’t? When done correctly, though, ebooks may help clients see your business and products in a whole new light — as well as put a few additional cash in your pocket.
